''Johnny Staccato'' is an American private detective

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed ...

starring John Cassavetes which ran for 27 episodes on NBC from September 10, 1959 through March 24, 1960.

Synopsis

Titular character Johnny Staccato, played by John Cassavetes, is a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

pianist/ private detective. The setting for many episodes is a Greenwich Village jazz club belonging to his friend, Waldo, played by Eduardo Ciannelli. The show featured many musicians, such as Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne, Milt Holland, Red Mitchell, Red Norvo, and Johnny Williams. (Although the show was set in New York City, all of these men were closely identified with the West Coast jazz scene, and it was filmed largely in Los Angeles.) Elmer Bernstein composed both of the main theme tunes used and Stanley Wilson was music supervisor. Cassavetes also directed five episodes. After its initial airing on NBC, ABC presented reruns of the series from March 27 to September 25, 1960. On October 12, 2010, the series was released on Region 1 DVD by Timeless Media Group. Episodes have aired on stations specializing in nostalgia programming, such as GetTV.

Notable guest stars

* Warren Berlinger * Geraldine Brooks * Walter Burke *

Elisha Cook, Jr. Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American character actor famed for his work in films noir. According to Bill Georgaris of TSPDT: They Shoot Pictures, Don't They, Cook appeared in a total of 21 film n ...

(twice) * Lloyd Corrigan * Frank DeKova * Norman Fell * Marianne Gaba * Ingrid Goude * Harry Guardino * Arline Hunter * Martin Landau * Michael Landon * Cloris Leachman * Ruta Lee *

Sylvia Lewis Sylvia Lewis is an American actress, dancer and choreographer. Career Sylvia Lewis was born in York, Pennsylvania. She first performed as a young child in the last days of vaudeville in Baltimore, Maryland. She received her first classical tra ...

* Charles McGraw * John Marley * Elizabeth Montgomery * Mary Tyler Moore * Susan Oliver *

J. Pat O'Malley James Rudolph O'Malley (15 March 1904 – 27 February 1985) was an English character actor and singer who appeared in many American films and television programmes from the 1940s to 1982, using the stage name J. Pat O'Malley. He also appeared on ...

* Gena Rowlands * Vito Scotti * Dean Stockwell * Nita Talbot * Jack Weston

Production notes

''Johnny Staccato'' aired at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on Thursdays opposite ABC's

sitcom A sitcom, a Portmanteau, portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troup ...

, '' The Real McCoys'', created by Irving Pincus and starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan, and CBS's western series, '' Johnny Ringo'', starring Don Durant and Mark Goddard.

Episodes

Home media

Timeless Media Group released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 on October 12, 2010. Mary Tyler Moore Johnny Staccato 1960

In popular culture

*The show was later parodied on '' SCTV'' as ''Vic Arpeggio'' (portrayed by Joe Flaherty), a saxophonist/private investigator whose cases were usually solved by accident. Arpeggio claimed to have been “framed” for drug possession, and that the detective gig was merely a sideline until he got his solo career back on track. *

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), them ...

references Johnny Staccato in his 2009 novel '' Inherent Vice'', set in late 1960s Los Angeles. Pynchon's main character, private investigator Larry "Doc" Sportello, praises Staccato as "the shamus of shamuses," ranking him with past greats Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade.Pynchon, Thomas. Inherent Vice. New York: Penguin, 2009, 97. *The theme, performed by Elmer Bernstein, received little attention in the US, but went to #4 in Britain. *Legendary artist Harvey Kurtzman parodied the show in his classic '' Jungle Book'' (Ballantine Books 1959) as "Thelonius Violence" *The Colts Drum and Bugle Corps' 2015 show was called "...and a Shot Rings Out: A Johnny Staccato Murder Mystery", which was a reference to the TV show.

References

External links

* {{John Cassavetes 1959 American television series debuts 1960 American television series endings 1950s American crime drama television series 1960s American crime drama television series American detective television series Black-and-white American television shows NBC original programming Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in New York City Television shows filmed in Los Angeles